Day 4: Donkey Avoidance 101

You know how sometimes you'll be driving down the road in your street and you'll see the neighbor's dog whipping up the street and you think, "Gee, I hope he does not run out in front of me" and sure enough the little s.o.b. does and you work like hell to avoid hitting it? That happened to us today, except replace "Street" with "Mexico", "Neighbor" with "Farmer" and "Dog" with "Donkey".

Shortly before that, of course, we had a bit of an "Off Roading" experience. Which is to say that, I dropped the left 2 wheels of the GT3 off the road into a drainage ditch next to a mountain. So, it wasn't really off roading as much as it was scraping the entire underbody of the car along a concrete ridge for about 50'.

Nope, I did not stop driving. We just kept going. We slowed down a little bit, but oil pressure remained constant, no temperature issues, no warning lights and most importantly no loss of driving feel.

Those 2 episodes forced some slowing down... we still finished 3rd in the class and 18th overall.

Here's the clip of the "off roading". I cannot find the donkey video right now (I hope I got it on tape!):



Oh, and memo to Chase Cam: The "Up" marker on your camera is in the wrong position. Your built in audio SUCKS. And your OSCommerce is setup so poorly that I did not see 3 critical accessories that I would have LOVED to get...

Whatever.

The arrival in Tehuacan was UNREAL. We rolled in to this beautiful little town called Tehuacan right into the town square. It's like something right out of Barcelona. Just amazing. The place was FILLED with people. Like, completely, totally, and utterly packed to the gills with people. We were interviewed for the local TV news. Interviewed live on the air on 2 radio stations. Had our car's picture in the paper.

the party wend from about 4:00pm until midnight. While we were in the driver's meeting, they setup a mechanical bull outside and had some pretty amazing fireworks...


See you later!



Turning...



Turning More...



Too Hot!



Whoops! (Who left those marks?)



Zoom!

Day 3: It's a Race, Not a Rally

Today, we met Julio. Julio is a very important man here in Oaxaca. You can tell by his green jacket and the stars on his shoulder. He came by to take a look at the GT3. When he asked how I liked Mexico, I said, "Muy bien. La policia, te gustan cuando conduciamos mas rapide."

"Yes. During La Carrera, we get to race, too!", he responded.

He reminded me that if we get in to trouble, that we should just call him. You got to love a country where the Generals pose for photos in front of your cars and offer their personal assistance...

Today was qualifying. I'll cut right to the end. Here's how we placed:

With an official time of 5:06, and a start penalty of :09 seconds (that means we got to the starting line a "tad" early) we qualified 2nd in the Unlimited Class and 13th overall.

Congrats to Piloto Kevin Jones and Copiloto Mark Williams in the Subaru for having the fastest overall time of the day with their 4:33! The fastest historic was Roger Habich and Daryl Habich with their 4:36! Congrats to all!



Yes, we have more in car footage today. I tweaked the brightness of the camera a bit. I also left the start in place so you could see how much of a head-start the Mini had. Yes, we passed him. Safely. Note the crowds formed all along the route. I hear it gets worse tomorrow!



Of course the best part of the day was FLYING back to Oaxaca at 140 mph on the freeway and blowing through town. every traffic light between the freeway and the staging area had cops stationed at all 4 corners. When a La Carrera car would pull up, the sea would part and the light would change in your favor. As traffic got worse, we had our own personal police escort.

At the driver's meeting when they announced the class winners, I nearly fell out of my seat. I was expecting to be 3rd in the class, but 2nd was a great surprise.

Tomorrow we meet at 7:00am in the town square. It's a long day of transit and speed sections en route to Tehuacan. I'm sure the heat will be turned up... I'm laying low until day 4. No need to lose it all on the second day.

Qualifying this afternoon, 4:30pm NY time.

Just got word from Emil via text that qualifying begins at 4:30pm EDT today! Stay here for more updates and also be sure to check out the live tracking to actually see those dots on the map move!

Day 2: Canyon Carving in Mexico

Today, Keri and I did our first driving for La Carrera. We pre-ran the qualifying stage, It took about 9 minutes to get out there, cruising at about 250 kph, 5 minutes to find the start of the qualifying stage, and about 8 minutes to drive the qualifying route.

Of course, this was not during officially sanctioned driving time, so we were dealing with traffic on the toll road (a few cars and trucks, a couple of goats and a pedestrian or two) some fans at the toll booth, and other La Carrera drivers on the qualifying zone.

Yes, fans.

People in Mexico LOVE this event. We got to the toll booth and found the right lane blocked. A bunch of at the tool booth waved us forward into the coned off area. They started taking pictures by the car, asking questions, and for post cards. (See the post from a few days ago). We've been handing out post cards like mad. Yesterday we had an autograph session at the baseball stadium -- it was weird. Right now, there's some MExican kid with a picture of my GT3 on his wall.

ANYWAY, the qualifying route is highly technical. It's on the side of a mountain. Without a guard rail. At very high speeds. The road is smooth. Like, freshly paved Watkin's Glen smooth. And banked. Like, seriously banked. Like, if these roads were in the US people would be scared to drive on them banked. We passed a few La Carrera cars on the side of the road... slowing to make sure they were ok, of course.

Needless to say, it was a ridiculous amount of fun.

No photos today, but I did make this in-car video for your amusement. We're still working out the audio in the car, but I doubt it'll improve much in the speed sections.



Thursday is qualifying. And if you have not heard, there's a live GPS in the car that you can watch on the Internet. Tune in tomorrow around 5:30 PM New York time and you can see some dots move on a map. I think. As soon as I get my qualifying time, I'll post it up... (Or, hopefully JF will be available to!)

http://panamericana.waypointinfo.com/

Day 1: Tech Inspection Complete!

The hardest part is over. The GT3 has been cleared to participate in the Unlimited Class at the 2007 La Carrera Panamericana.

Yes, I was VERY worried. The rules of this event are quite strict. And the organizers are kind of, shall we say, "chill" about the whole thing. But the guys took one look at the car, tested the cage for size, poked through the inspection hole and slapped the decal on the car.

Thanks, Thom at Porsche of Huntington and the whole crew a Musante Motorsports.

Not too much happened today, other than tech. Met a bunch of the guys. Got sorted out on procedure. We've got a few more things to do tomorrow including setting back braces, calibrating the Terra Trip -- nothing major. I've got 2 cops that are gonna give me a strip of road about 2km long to help calibrate the TerraTrip, so that should be fun!

Here's a few photos for you to peruse


Here's a shot of our view from the hotel. The hotel used to be a convent. It's spectacularly beautiful.



With all the FUBAR travel from yesterday, I was worried that we'd have a hard time finding Tom with the GT3. Thankfully, the crowd on the otherside of the Police barricade found the car for us.



One of the Unlimited Class Subarus going through Tech Inspection. The crowd LOVES them Subies!



Don't park there! The Policia will move the car for you so you!



The TerraTrip and TerraPhone all wired in, receiving data and ready to go!



The GPS in the PCM is essentially useless. Like, totally useless. But hey, it knows I'm in Mexico!



Always pray for redemption. Never protection.



Prepped and ready to race, the GT3 can take anything. Except that storm!


Be sure to tune in tomorrow when I post the link to the live GPS tracking system for the entire grid of cars!

Winning Strategy

Lots of time has been spent on this blog talking about preparation. Prep time is over and now work time begins. So, with 3 hours remaining before we head south to Mexico, also known as the Land of the Rising Sun (Mexico's Official Slogan), I'd like to talk about strategy.

We've got a simple three point strategy for winning. Steve Case used to refer to the "6 C's" that made AOL successful. They were Connectivity, Communication, Content, Context, Commerce, and Crossdressing. Our strategy pays homage to Steve's simple mission:

1) Comfort: During long distance runs, comfort is key. In my first enduro race, I went in too pumped to pay attention to comfort. About 3 minutes in to my 6-hour shift behind the wheel I realized that an extra few seconds during the driver change would have made the difference between maintaining position and losing 4 places. I did not make that mistake the second time and I won't at La Carrera.

2) Cruising: Slow and steady will work well here. Fast and steady will be better. But for us, we're gonna take it easy. Drive fast. And focus on a safe cruising pace. This is not a technical event, although, I'm sure that technique will be important at times. Hopefully not on the bad side of the control threshold.

3) Concentration: Key to safely traversing the route will be concentration. Concentration of the "Piloto" and "Copiloto" will result in efficient driving, proper identification of hazards and dangers, as well as notification of routing for optimal speed through the course. Things happen fast north of the triple-digit mark and with 2 brains racing, it's important to be concentrating on your work.

Plus, we have AC and a killer sound track, so we're clearly already in the lead!

The Introduction

It is important that as we mature, we don't loose sight of what we are meant to achieve in our relatively short lifespan on this planet. Deep inside all of us, there is a little kid that is fighting to get out, to explore and conquer as much ground as possible. Emil and Keri have taken such an idea and run with it, or should I say driven with it?

The two are off in Mexico for the next 10 or so days, taking part in the most extreme road event the Americas have to offer: The 2007 Unlimited Class at La Carrera Panamericana . Targa Newfoundland... extreme - Yes, but come on... it IS in Canada. I kid...

I started off my "career" in rally blogging two years ago, covering events such as the Bullrun and Gumball Rallies. Those times were fun and I learned quite a lot from them, but the reality is that such events will never be the same. So that leads me here.

In the coming days I will be providing any information which Emil and Keri are unable to post directly to the blog. I will be happy to relay any questions you may have for the two whenever they are out of contact. I want to keep this blog as active as possible; that requires an interaction between the bloggers and readers, so make sure you comment. I wish Emil, Keri and the GT3 the best of luck. My only problem as far as I'm aware is that the GT3 has yet to be named... Let’s hope that problem is resolved shortly.

Thrill of the Road

I've learned much from Alex Roy in the last few months. Both as a friend and hero. I'll admit it, the guy has done something that I look up to in terms of adventure, freedom, and sheer determination.

Because of Alex, I've met JF. JF has been key in getting Team Polizei through some very hairy situations and since JF has nothing to do when he's not in school, working, still helping Team Polizei, and driving somewhere for no real reason, I figured I'd recruit his assistance, too.

Yep, helped with some of the prep work including the nuances of FMAD, but more importantly he's got blog access. In the event that I can't get to the Internets while here in the City of Lights (Mexico's Official Slogan) JF will be providing blog updates...

Thanks, JF. For everything. And I hope not to accidentally call you too often. Oh! And you can whip donuts in the RS4 whenever you want. :-)

Goldisc

One of these days, I'll run the Targa Florio. Maybe with my dad.

He's not here this year, but we'll be running one of his old plates on the race car.

Mapping the Tech Inspection Site

Found the location of our hotel and the tech site in Oaxaca. The tech inspection site is marked with the inspector looking icon guy. The hotel is marked with the little bed icon.

View Larger Map
That's a live map, so you can drag the view, zoom in, etc.

More maps to come!

1 More Day…

Well...Emil came home today after being in NY for 2 weeks. He brought a ton of equipment that we need to pack. Even so, we've managed to get that big pile from yesterday down to this:


The box on the right (more stuff) contains stuff we will be carrying on the plane because if any of that gets lost, we are screwed.

The box on the left is stuff that we need to fit into our suitcases, which are getting more and more full by the minute. Good thing we are wearing race suits every day so I don't have to bring a lot of clothes.

Tomorrow, I will be getting the last few items we need:

• Calamine lotion and A&D ointment (as recommended by someone from the town where the race starts.)


• Baby Wipes (as recommended by everyone)


• Cheap Men's Tank tops (for me for under the suit)


• Velcro Tape


• More carabiners


• Extra electric wire for the terraphone.


• Pick up postcards from Kinkos.

Of course, all of this will have to wait until after the F1 race at 9am tomorrow. It's the last one of the season and it's going to be very dramatic!

Why?

A few people have asked me why the GT3 for La Carrera?

Well, the answer is simple: I already had 2 GT3s, so prepping 1 for the race was easy.

Wait. What?

Yeah, you heard me. The reason I seem to always be transporting the car back and forth between LA and NY is not because I have a magic transporter to move cars. I got two of them. So, the decision to "gently modify" one was easy.

Of course, there's more to it than convenience and poor financial planning, including the heritage of Porsche's participation in La Carrera, the fact that it was relatively easy to prep that car to run the event (thanks to the genius craftsmanship of Thom at Porsche of Huntington and Musante Motorsports) and the fact that it's a comfortable car.

Huh? Come again?

Yes, comfortable. Yes, my GT3 has the proper seats from the Carrera GT, it's still a comfortable car. With a few things that are required for our winning strategy.


The Unlimited Class is for modern road cars. It's also for cars that are registered, you know, with license plates and the whole deal. Other than the cage that we put in the car, the car is completely qualified to run the event stock. There's nothing that would need to be changed to run.

Sure we did a few other things to give us a bit of an edge, but truth be told... The GT3 is ready to go from Stuttgart.

I hope that the guys at Porsche (yes, I see you reading this blog) aren't too offended by what we're doing with their once beautiful, flawless machine in the greatest road race in the Americas.

I Gotz Mah Nayme on Mah Soot

In accordance with the rules of La Carrera Panamericana, I have embroidered my name, blood type, and allergies on my suit. They also require us to put our blood type and allergies on our helmets and on the car above our doors. Those decals will be ready for me to pick up tomorrow.

Luckily for us, the words "O negative" and "Sulfa Allergy" are close enough to "O negativo" and "Sulfa Alergia".

I am also in the home stretch of gathering all of the necessary supplies. Here is "the pile".



(The cat carrier will not be going with us.)

Tomorrow, I will pick up our postcards and decals, get Emil at the airport, bring his suit to get embroidered, finish the shopping, get a pedicure, and start packing!

33.5

Today is October 19th. The day after my cousin Ian's birthday. 6 months before I turn 34.

I just returned from my last meeting before heading to La Carrera. At 9:00pm on a rainy Friday in New York City. It's been a very hectic 3 weeks. Between projects that don't seem to end, strategic initiatives that can't seem to move forward, and some serious questions about what I want to do when I grow up... I've not had much time to focus. Frankly, the race has been nothing but a distraction for the last few weeks. As bills come in and chores pile up I keep asking myself if this is all worth it... aren't there better things to spend my time and money on?

I'm rushing home to pack, send off a few last-minute emails to friends and coworkers, review a few things that have not gotten the time they deserve, order something to eat and get to sleep. (Of course, I'm taking a 7:00am flight out of JFK on Saturday. Of course.)

So, the first thing I do is turn on the TV (Star Wars Episode 1 on TiVo), the radio (BBC Radio1 on Sirius) and hit FaceBook. I see that Bret has been busy posting photos to Facebook. And I'm glad he did.


Seeing that picture has refocused me on the excitement of the next few days. Racing. In Mexico. In one of the finest cars I've ever had the pleasure of driving. With the most important person in my life.

3 more days…

My countdown, btw, is until The Point of No Return. Otherwise known as "Flight #123 from Los Angeles to Mexico City".

Today's Tasks:

• Kinkos - get 500 postcards printed. (check)


• Sign Shop - get decals made of our names/blood types for our doors and helmets. (check)


• Buy camelback, socks, and carabiners (check)


• Random other personal details that need to be done before I can leave for 2 weeks. (in process)

Here is our campy Mexican postcard to give our to the children who line the race route:



I say "campy" with much affection - I think it's perfect. (Thanks to Bret for designing it!)